Chance
by Munchkin25
Summary: Sequel to Family Ties. When a girl from a local high school soccer team is raped and does not come forward to confirm her statement, the SVU squad goes undercover to catch the perp. But what is suppose to be a simple undercover operation, suddenly goes wr
1. Ch 1: Just Another Hot Day in the NYC

Of course, I do not own the characters and if I did, I would be rich! Dick Wolf is the one who owns them and he's rich! But I do own the characters I make up (especially Amy) so you can't have them!

* * *

"_**In the criminal justice system, sexually-based defenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City the detectives that investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."**_

**Silverton Diner**

**Fifth Avenue**

**Friday July 22, 2005**

It was nine o' clock in the morning. A girl was running along Fifth Avenue. She almost had no breath in her left to continue. But when she saw the diner, she gave it everything she got to reach the safety of shelter and many observant eyes.

After all she was on the soccer team. She could run three miles as if it were a walk in the park.

Where she was running away from now. She was running as fast as she could, away from Central Park. Anywhere was safer than that horrible place.

It had begun there in the middle of June. She was on the soccer team for her high school and they required all members of the soccer team to come for at least three to four times a week for practice during the whole summer.

Go N.Y. District 51.

At last she made it to the diner. Many people turn heads as she walked in. She did not care. She needed to place a phone call and fast.

Her appearances looked ragged like if some beast had try to tear her apart. Some of her hair was out of the ponytail and some of it was still inside it. The white jersey had a grayish-brownish look to it. The bold, red number 84, had mud smeared across it. These were bad signs because the people could tell.

Signs of an assault, maybe rape.

She asked the bartender for the phone and he gave to her. She placed a 911 call.

"Hello? I need help. Yes, it's an emergency! I've been raped!"

**

* * *

**

Chance

**SVU Squad Room**

Inside the squad room, it was miserable. It was hot, humid and the twenty dollar box fans were not doing their job. They would only circulate the hot air and it made things worse than before. The radio was on and they were listening to the forecast for the day, the squad praying that there would be a break in the heat wave.

"Today will be another hot one New York City as highs reaching again near the ninety mark with a heat index of…"

"Turn it off," groaned John Munch as he loosened his tie, "If we get one more day like it has been for the past two and a half weeks, I'll strip naked."

Odafin Tutuola, or Fin, looked at him.

"That would be something to see," said Fin, knowing how Munch rarely complained of the heat.

"You mean disturbing, Fin. Don't even push the subject," said Amy Munch, who was reading the sixth book of Harry Potter.

"Why? I mean seeing him naked would be amusing. People would talk about it for years."

"Yeah and in the process, it'll scar me for life. I wanna stay sane at least until I'm sixty."

Olivia Benson laughed for the first time that day.

"Sane until your sixty when you're partnered with those two? You'll have better luck being partnered with me and El."

The phone rang and she picked it up while her three friends got up and begin to walk out of the squad room.

"Benson. Yeah…okay. Where? Got it, thanks." She hung up and called to her captain, Donald Cragen, who was in his office.

"Hey Cap! We got one on Fifth Avenue," she shouted.

He motioned his hand to the door of the squad room.

"Can you come and help me out?"

Again, he motioned with his hand. She sighed and looked at her three partners as they were leaving.

"Could you lend a body?" she asked.

Munch looked at his watch and shook his head. "Sorry, but our presence is required in court today. We are going to watch Amy testify."

Benson rolled her eyes. "I only need one person! You can always find out what happen from the other two who went!"

"Yeah, but these things are better seen in person."

She rolled her eyes as she followed them out the door.

**

* * *

Silverton Diner **

**Fifth Avenue**

Benson entered the diner by herself. She had called Stabler, who was not due to come in until ten that morning because he had the kids, who said he would be there shortly. In the meantime, she would have to secure the area.

"My luck," she muttered, "I get stuck with securing the area and Elliot doesn't come in until ten. Why can't I have a nice, responsible day of leisure like him?"

She had been in a bad mood since her shift started. Her date last night was going perfect. It looked like a perfect date.

Until he asked the million dollar question.

That stupid, annoying, skeleton-in-your-closet question that plagued her when she joined SVU.

_"What do you do for a living?"_

Of course she had told him. She told him what she did for a living. And what did he do? He acted like a shy child for the remainder of the date which meant one or two things:

1. He would never go out with her again.

Or…

2. He would want to go out with her again, but only talk about the sick details of what she did, even when she didn't want to talk about it, especially after a long shift.

So as she walked into the café, she forced herself to abandon the horrible thoughts of the night before and to be the caring and understanding cop when she talked to the rape victim. Just like she always did.

"Hi," she said approaching her, "What's your name?"

"Tara."

**

* * *

Trail Part 85 **

**July 22, 2005**

Novak step out of her car. Normally she would have ridden to the courthouse by bike, but since the heat wave that hit the city she had been commuting to work by car. She was walking up the stairs when Munch, Fin, and Amy pulled up and got out as well.

"AC! I can sing!" cried Munch when they walked into the courthouse.

"Well don't," advised Novak.

"The heat has been driving us up the wall and we're like the last station house on the list to get our AC unit fixed. So let him sing, it's better than hearing him complain," said Fin.

Novak reached the courtroom of Judge Siegel and went inside. Amy and the others would wait outside until it would be her time to testify.

"Nervous?" asked Fin.

"No, not really," she replied looking around the building.

"Well, we've got a fair judge so there should be no problem. Except for Kressler," added Munch.

"Kressler was the lawyer from hell when I was in homicide. I know how to handle him," said Amy, smiling slyly.

Ten minutes later, the court officer beckoned Amy to come in and sit on the stand. Munch and Fin followed and sat behind Novak.

"Detective, you received a call on the morning of June 29, 2005. Do you know who called you?" Novak began.

Amy had been the primary on the Rachel Yassit case from the month before. It was her first primary case since joining SVU and she had handled it very well. It had certainly been a lot easier than the Rosewater case even though Stabler had been the primary.

"Yes, I received a call on the morning of June 29. The victim, Rachel Yassit, reported a rape that had occurred the night before," Amy replied in a laid-back voice tone.

"Who was the person she claimed to have rape her?" Novak asked.

"Robert Fontson, the defendant over there," and Amy pointed to a young man sitting on her opposite right.

As she pointed, Munch and Fin looked at him. They had come to see her testify because of Amy's old friend from the Bronx Homicide Unit, Leena, had advised them to go. It was not to see if she screwed up on the stand, but to see how she handled the defense lawyers, especially if Kressler was going to be there.

"Let the record show that the detective has identify the defendant," said Novak before proceeding with the next question.

"Now Detective, when you had apprehended the suspect upon his arrest, what did he try to do?"

"He tried to assault me and my partners too."

"How?"

"By punching."

"So not only did you arrest him for the rape you also arrest him for attempted assault of a police officer."

Kressler, Fontson's attorney, stood up from his chair.

"Objection! Relevance?"

"I'm getting there, Your Honor," replied Novak as she turned her head toward the Judge.

"Make it quick Ms. Novak," said Judge Siegel.

Novak walked over. Now was the time to play her cards right. She faced Amy.

"After you read him his rights, what did he say?"

"He said he would…" Amy paused to collect her thoughts, "rape and torture me like he did to that little..."

She again paused and turned her head to look at the Judge. "Uhh he said the "B" word to me Judge Siegel."

"Very well," he replied. He turned to the documenter. "Let the record show that Miss Amy here said the "B" word when answering Ms. Novak's question."

Kressler had enough from the detective. "Your Honor, may we approach?"

Novak and Kressler approached the bench. While they approached, Munch and Fin grinned to each other and both gave Amy a thumbs-up sign. In return, she gave them a mysterious, twinkling look.

"Your Honor," began Kressler, "I think Miss Novak's witness is not fit to proceed with her testimony."

"On what grounds?" asked Novak, surprised what Kressler was saying.

"She thinks this is a joke."

Amy, who had over heard him, spoke.

"I do not think that this is a joke, Mr. Kressler, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"Easy for you to say, you're not taking this seriously. I move to dismiss her testimony," he said to the judge while looking at her.

"I am too! How dare you think I'm not levelheaded enough for this case especially when I spent the entire time last month to prepare it for a grand jury! How dare you tell me that all the overtime I worked was worth nothing because you know my testimony might help convict your client! How dare you say in a courtroom that I am lousy when it comes to testimonies for a court of law even though a grand jury has allowed my testimony to be heard! How dare you…"

Novak looked from the judge to Munch and Fin, at a loss for words. When she them, both detectives were shaking their heads, resisting the urge to laugh. Judge Siegel turned to Amy.

"Now Miss Amy, I'm sure Mr. Kressler here met nothing by what he said. I will allow your testimony, so you have nothing to fear."

"But Your Honor," began Kressler.

"Now what?" interrupted Novak, "What are you going to say this time? The detective here is mentally unstable?"

It took everything in Munch and Fin's will power to not burst out laughing in the court room.

"No I was going to say…"

But Judge Siegel had enough of the two lawyers bickering. He hated lawyers bickering. He would rather have his courtroom filled with crying babies than here lawyers bicker. Lawyers always gave him the worst headaches.

"Alright that's enough from both of you! Mr. Kressler, I think that this young detective here is a creditable witness; therefore, her testimony will stay on the record. Now that is my final ruling. Back to your places!"

Novak could not help herself. She let a small smile creep across her face as she said, "Nothing further."

Kressler stood briefly. "I have no questions for this witness," he said and sat down quickly.

"You may step down Miss Amy," said the judge and Amy got down from the stand.

Fifteen minutes later, Munch, Fin, Amy, and Novak were walking down the steps of the courthouse discussing the trial.

"I need to start putting you on the stand more. You'll make my job easier. A ten-minute decision from the jury, I haven't had a case this easy in a long time."

"What's the matter with the cases we give you?" asked Munch slightly offended.

"A good example would be the Rosewater case, John. Too much political crap in it. Or it has some amendment rights issues or…"

"Okay, okay we get the picture, Casey. Don't get him started," said Fin warily. He knew Munch had knack for reciting conspiracy theories when someone brought up the right words.

"Anyway, I've never seen a defense lawyer so ruffled up. Maybe I'll bring you to all my trials," Novak said.

"Ha ha," said Amy, "That case was an easy one. I don't know why Fontson went to trial. We had enough evidence to nail him on everything! He should have taken the deal," said Amy. "Besides, I think Kressler got tic off when I was answering all those questions _truthfully_. I don't know why though. I was under oath and I had to tell the truth or else I would be in contempt of court. Besides he shouldn't have questioned my ability as a qualified witness."

**

* * *

SVU Squad Room **

"Well, well look what we have here. Casey is not stressed out from a trial. This is a first," said Stabler.

"I just handed Kressler's ass in court El. I couldn't be any happier," said Novak making her way to the coffee bar. She poured some in a Styrofoam cup then said goodbye to everyone. "I'll let Amy tell the story," she said as she left.

Benson and Cragen had been busying themselves on a map pinned to the board while Stabler was looking through some files. They stopped to hear the wonderful story that Amy was telling them.

"Well Novak calls me up to the stand to testify. She asks the usual questions until we get to the part where we apprehended the suspect."

"Why is it that I am getting a bad feeling about this?" asked Cragen.

"Well I told the judge what happen, what he said to me as we put him in the car, and then Kressler gets mad at me for not saying the "B" word in a courtroom. Now I'll say in front of you guys, but not in a courtroom. I've always been that way.

"Well he objects and asked the judge if they could approach. The judge allows it and Kressler is saying that I am not a creditable witness."

"On what grounds?" asked Stabler.

"Well, in my personal opinion, I think he thought I was crazy or somethin' I guess it was the tone of my voice I was answering the questions in."

Everyone laughed. Amy let everyone settle down before continuing.

"Well he argues that I think that this case is a joke and there was no need for identifying his client as the suspect we apprehended. Well, I go off on him saying that I really worked hard on this case and that he is a real piece of work to say I didn't. The judge tells me to calm down and that he didn't mean any of that."

"Well, Kressler objects again and now the judge is getting really angry. So he tells Kressler to shut up and Novak to continue with her questioning. Novak sits down and Kressler is so mad at me, he doesn't even have the guts to question me right in front of the judge. Apparently he thinks that I am so crazy that it is actually contagious and he wouldn't leave the safety of his little table. But it was like as I was telling the other three, I had to tell the truth whether he liked it or not. I was under oath. I wasn't going to lie right under a judge's nose and find myself in contempt of court."

Everyone laughed again.

"Nice, very nice," said Benson, and returned to looking at the board.

She had pretty much kept to herself since her shift started and everyone had an idea why she was acting like this. Last night's date with Mr. Perfect had gone sour.

"How was last night's date?" asked Cragen.

"It was going fine until he asked the million dollar question," she replied.

Everyone exchange quick glances, except for Amy who had no idea what Benson was talking about. She had no idea what the "Million Dollar Question" was.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking Olivia, what is this 'Million Dollar Question'?" she asked.

Benson gave her a perplexed look. So did everyone else.

"You do not know what the 'Million Dollar Question' is?" asked Stabler.

"Of course I wouldn't know El! I've only been here for three months, counting May."

"It's where Benson's date asks what she does for a living."

"Oh, I get it now."

"So what did Mr. Perfect do?" asked Munch. Seeing Amy confused, he added, "It's what I call Olivia's dates."

"Well he did the usual John, acted like a scared and frighten child and didn't talk too much for the rest of the evening."

As Benson said this, the words of a former detective, Detective Brian Cassidy, crept through her mind. "As long as you have this job, your marriage will only be an affair." Though it was a long time ago when he had said them, she remembered them like yesterday.

"Marriage," she thought. "Like that will ever happen."

"However, it's not a big loss. They're plenty of fish in the sea," Benson said, sensing that her friends were starting to feel sympathetic.

"Yes, they are plenty fish in the sea. That's the easy part. Trying to find the right one is not. I learned that a long time ago when I got married," said Munch.

Fin looked at the board Benson and Cragen had been working on before they came in while Munch rambled about one of his wife stories. The board had a zoomed in area around the perimeter of Central Park. A yellow tack was placed on a corner street and a blue line was drawn from that street to an area near red slashed lines. He knew what that meant. A case had been reported while he and his partners were at court.

"That's quite a long line," said Fin pointing to the board once Munch finished. Everyone turn to look at the board.

"Yeah, we got a call from a café where that yellow tack is. Our victim ran about half a mile to that café," said Benson.

"Our victim is a seventeen year old high school soccer player who has been attending a training camp for next year's season. Wouldn't say who raped her though," said Stabler.

"However, she has the strength to run from Point A to Point B. Could've been jumped by some enemies," said Fin.

"No she wasn't. Rape kit came back and tested positive for fluids," said Cragen.

"So she's either scared or she knows who the perp is," said Munch.

"And to make matters worse she won't say where she was raped. The red slashed lines represent where she could've been raped," said Benson pointing to the area.

"Then the perp knew what he was doing. He raped her in a secluded area, so no witnesses except for the ones who saw her walk in that café," said Amy.

"So where do we begin?" asked Fin.

"Well I was hoping you three could go to the park office and ask about this soccer program while you two go and investigate the soccer team she's on," said Cragen.

**

* * *

Central Park **

As they got out of Amy's car (Munch yet again had to sit in the back, so he had some difficulty getting out), they went up to the recreational building. Benson and Stabler had gone to the field where the soccer team practiced.

"When will you trade in this goddamn car?" Munch asked Amy angrily. He had once again hit his head on the hood of the car and was messaging it when they were climbing up the stairs.

Amy held up her fingers as she began to pick all the things she wanted for her car. "Once I find a car that has good gas mileage, is silver, has a four-cylinder tank, good acceleration, CD-player, cassette player, sun roof…"

"Okay, okay I get picture," he replied.

"Just make sure it has four doors, so he doesn't complain," Fin whispered to her.

Inside, the place was rather quiet. There was only one secretary when they approach the front desk. She had her headphones on and was typing something when Fin hit the bell. She took off her headphones and look at them. She could only see Munch and Fin. Amy could not be seen, due to her small height.

"May I help you?" asked the lady.

"Detectives Munch and Tutuola," replied Fin.

"We would like to see the schedules for the high school soccer training camps," said Munch,

"Unfortunately I cannot give out that information. That information is protected by the school," she replied lazily.

"You mean the names of students' ma'am," said Munch, "Schedules are not protected by the school."

"And since it is listed in the parks computer that means it is also public knowledge. Now, are you going to give it to us or do we have to come back with a warrant?" asked Fin.

She eyed them angrily before getting up and going to the room behind her. They waited until she was out of sight before they gave Amy the signal. Then Amy moved from her hiding place.

Amy was a small person. Only 5,2' and weighing 115 pounds, she easily could hide behind anything. During the Rachel Yassit case, she had to knick information from a secretary's desk without being notice. Fortunately, the secretary had not seen her, so when she made an important call in the back room, Amy had went behind her desk, grabbed a suspect's schedule, then return quickly to her place beside Munch and Fin. They looked at it and as soon as they heard she was coming back, they pretended it had dropped off her desk by accident. It cleared the suspect, which left Fontson, and his alibi could not be accounted for on the night Rachel was raped.

However there was only one problem. Novak did not approve of this method of gathering evidence. "You could lose your badge! Don't do it again!" she had told Amy. So then Munch and Fin decided that they would only use this method in two cases:

1. Amy would only do this if the person did not notice her or if she was too short to be seen behind a desk.

2. If the person they were dealing with was giving them a hard time, Munch and Fin would stall for time, allowing her to grab the information needed.

Right now, it was both a case of one and two. She quickly opened the filing cabinet, being careful not to make a sound. She scanned through the folders and came to the school-related programs. She pulled it out.

"Which school?" she mouthed.

Of course with this method came a lot of lip reading. In order to get what they want they had to be discreet and silent. These were the two most important rules.

"N.Y. District 51," mouthed Fin.

In the folder, came sub folders. "Thank god they were in alphabetical order," Amy thought. She pulled out some papers until she found a list of the summer athletic programs. To her dismay, there was only one copy of the list. Sensing that she was running out of time, she memorized the names, quickly put the papers back into their slot, put the folder back into the filing cabinet, and quickly return to where Munch and Fin stood. She quickly jotted down the names

The lady came back, not knowing that within five minutes Amy Munch had got the information that they would need. Time was another important rule in this new method. She eyed them carefully as she sat down in her seat.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Fin, "Who is the coach of the N.Y. District 51 soccer team?"

"Malthus. Martin Malthus."

"And you know him because…"

"He's coaching my little cousin for next year's season."

And with that, she put on her headphones and began listening to music again.

Back outside, Munch and Fin were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who got the passenger seat while Amy opened her memo-pad and look at the names she jot down.

_James Early_

_Alexandra Yuki_

_Martin Malthus_

_Alvin Simon_

_Sylvia Wallace_

"Oye! I don't mean to interrupt the game of the century, but who was that person mentioned by that lady in the building?" Amy asked.

"It was Martin Malthus," said Munch, not taking his eyes of Fin's playing hand.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" they both shouted. Amy shook her head and sighed at the fact that two grown men could not act like their age and just take turns on who got the passenger seat.

"Ha! Rock beats Scissors Fin! I get the passenger seat! Bwa ha ha ha!" said Munch eagerly opening the door and moving the seat forward.

Fin eyed him for a moment and then said two words. Munch just smiled.

Benson and Stabler arrived at the field. The soccer team from the victim's school were no where to be found. The field was desolate in the noon, hot sun.

"What time is it?" asked Benson.

"Almost noon. They probably went home for the day," said Stabler.

The pair looked around at their surroundings. Standing in the center of the field there was a small hill behind them, a small street was on their left, and a dense area of trees and shrubs on their right. They looked at each other.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Stabler.

Benson nodded and they both went to the woody area. As they approached it, they could hear cars coming from Fifth Avenue.

"Definitely our crime scene," said Benson and she stopped.

"We should call CSU," said Stabler.

"Why?"

"These mosquitoes are tearing me up. Let's let some poor CSU guy get bitten by these suckers."

He began swatting them with his hand. It almost looked comical to Benson, but she held back her laugh. Her cell phone rang and she answered it.

"Benson. Yeah…yeah…you did what! Okay, we'll meet you for lunch in a little bit." She turned off her cell phone. "That was Fin. You won't believe what our friends just did."

"What did they do?" asked Stabler, walking back to the car to radio for a Crime Scene Unit.

"They stole a few names from the park's recreation filing cabinet. Well they didn't actually steal them; they saw a paper with some names on it. The lady they were talking to mentioned one of the names from the paper."

"Well that's great isn't it? Unless they got it by the method Amy used in her last case."

"That's what they did."

"So the question is should we be happy or we should be mad at them?"

**

* * *

Strawberry Diner **

**1049 Lexington Ave**

**Upper East Side**

"What took you?" asked Munch when Benson and Stabler sat at their table.

"We were waiting for a CSU guy to come and secure our crime scene," replied Stabler.

"Well I took the liberty of ordering your favorites," said Amy.

"Thanks,"

"So you've found it then?" asked Munch.

"Well hopefully we did. It looked like the right spot, but the bugs were bad and El here didn't want to get bitten," said Benson.

"It's summer, get use to it Elliot," said Amy.

He ignored her and looked at Munch and Fin.

"So you've found some names. Are any of them our guy?" he asked them.

"We were going to check once we got back to the squad room. Seems one of our guys is teaching our victim's team," said Fin.

A waitress put down some sandwiches for all of them at their booth table and drinks. She left the bill too and went about her business.

"I got it," said Amy making a reach for it.

"No, I do. You need to save your money so you can buy that car," said Munch.

"Well, I'll gladly accept donations," she replied sarcastically.

"My ass," he said.

Benson and Stabler exchanged glances with Fin. He ignored their looks and began eating his sandwich.

"You still looking for a car?" asked Stabler.

"Of course, El! Finding one to their preference" (She pointed to Munch and Fin) "is easy, but for mine? No, of course not! Anything I want means I usually have to go on a fishing expedition for it!"

She sighed and began to eat her sandwich and French fries.

"Fries not salty enough," she muttered and grab the salt shaker.

**

* * *

Central park **

Benson and Stabler returned to the crime only to find the head CSU guy shaking their heads at them.

"Sorry guys nothing here yet. However this was your crime scene."

"There's nothing here, but this area is our crime scene?" asked Stabler skeptically.

"Foot prints and they belong to an athlete. See the pattern of indentation?"

"Cleats?" asked Benson looking at them.

"Probably," he replied, "And I also found another set. A bigger size than your victim's. Possibly a male. And there is a sign that a struggle took place here."

"So that's all we got then, footprints and signs of a struggle. He'd have tossed his shoes by now in the East River and signs of a struggle can mean anything!"

"We're still scanning the area so anything can turn up," he said.

"Like what, fibers from a shoe lace?" asked Stabler.

**

* * *

SVU Squad Room **

"Damn this piece of junk!" growled Munch.

For the third time he had tried to enter a name from the list Amy had written them on and the computer had froze on him again. He tried to enter it again when it became unfrozen. It froze again.

"Piece of…"

"Move over John," said Amy as she leaned over his keyboard and began to hit certain keys to unfreeze his computer.

"There, see? Nothing to it," she said.

"Still doesn't mean you're getting a donation from me to buy your car," he said.

"I didn't ask now did I?"

"Now children," said Fin, not looking up from his computer.

Amy rolled her eyes and went back to her desk. Munch and Fin were researching the people she had copied down from the list while she was looking for her car on the Internet. So far nobody had any records and she had not found the car she wanted.

"Bingo!" cried Munch, after a long silence.

"What now?" Amy asked.

"That guy that lady told us who coached soccer team, Martin Malthus, had a previous charge for aggravated assault and illegal possession of a handheld weapon. He's been a soccer coach and a P.E. teacher for…"

He had stopped in mid-sentence. He couldn't believe the number on the screen.

"What?" Fin and Amy asked.

"Call Elliot and Olivia and tell the Captain while you're at it. I think we've got a bigger problem on our hands."

Stabler and Benson walked into the squad room, puzzled. What was so important that couldn't be told over the phone?

"What the hell is going on? What is so important that could not be told over the phone?" asked Benson.

"See for yourself," said Amy and pointed to Munch's computer screen.

She looked at it and a few minutes later began to swear loudly.

"Twenty years! Twenty years!" she repeated, "I don't believe it. Statue of rape only covers five years."

"He's the best guy we've got. He was near the girl all the time this program started," said Fin.

"And not to mention that CSU found foot prints the size of a male's foot," said Stabler.

"So unless our rape victim comes forward and tells us who raped her, all we have is circumstantial evidence," said Cragen.

"She wouldn't say. I tried to get her to come forward, but she just wouldn't do it," said Benson.

"Tell her we have an idea who did it," said Amy.

"I don't think she'll come forward that easily though, Amy. She's still trying overcome the shock."

"So now what do we do?" asked Munch.

"I'll go and talk to her again, but I doubt she'll come forward," said Benson as she grabbed her keys and left.

**

* * *

Bellevue Hospital **

Benson walked back into the hospital and to Tara's room. However when she got there, it was empty. She raced to the front desk and asked where Tara was.

"She checked herself out today, around one," said the receptionist.

"She checked herself out?" asked Benson puzzled.

"Yes, she was eighteen."

"Damn," Benson thought. "Well, did she leave an address?"

The receptionist typed in Tara's name and an address pop up.

"Yes…well actually no."

"What now?"

"She left an address of a former apartment building that I used to live in. They moved everybody there to a new one because the building had problems," said the receptionist.

"Thanks," said Benson.

Benson began to call the others back at the squad room. So far their case was going down hill and it was just the first day too. Without Tara, they couldn't do anything except wait until Malthus struck again.

**

* * *

SVU Squad Room **

"Personally, I hate the idea of waiting," said Benson, "God only knows how long he's been getting away with this."

"But without Tara to confirm her statement, there is no case," said Cragen.

"Could we bring her in for filing a false report then? If she doesn't want to confirm what she said to Liv then the rape doesn't exist," said Fin.

"You weren't there, Fin. You didn't see how messed up this kid was," said Benson, "The rape did happen. Her rape kit tested positive for fluids."

"Doesn't mean anything. She could have just had sex with someone and then cry rape to cover it up. We've had many cases like that before."

"Yeah and we've also had cases where the victim runs away before she can confirm her statement because she's terrified!"

"Hey now. Relax everyone. We're gonna get this guy," said Cragen warily. He noticed the clock and saw that it was five. "Perhaps it was best that they went home early," he thought.

"Go home everyone. I'll take it from here," he said to everyone.

Everyone looked at him.

"Did he just said what I think he just said?" asked Munch.

"Maybe he had too much coffee," said Benson.

"I think he's sick otherwise he wouldn't have told us that," said Stabler.

"Perhaps he had too much sugar and it's making his head spin," suggested Fin.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Amy.

"Or maybe he's feeling nice. Now get out of here before I change my mind," he replied sarcastically.

Everyone grab their things and left the squad room, wondering what Cragen was up to.

**

* * *

Chauncey's Bar **

"Is it me or was Cragen acting strangely?" asked Munch, sipping his beer.

"Oh no, I smell a conspiracy theory. Where's Amy when you need her?" asked Fin, looking for her.

Benson laughed as the bartender put her beer on the bar. Stabler had gone to shoot some pool with Amy while they waited on a plate they had order for themselves. At last, she saw Amy leading the way back to where the threesome sat.

"Amy, John's going to start ranting again!" cried Fin, jokingly.

"John, shut up or I won't buy that car," she said sitting beside them.

"Why?" Munch asked.

"Because I just won one hundred dollars off of Elliot."

"She kicked your ass in pool?" asked Benson to Stabler.

"Yeah. I was never good at it though," Stabler said as he ordered his drink.

"I was never good at pool either, Elliot! I just got lucky," said Amy ordering a soda.

"Why don't you ever drink?" asked Fin. Since she had joined, he or anyone else for that matter, never saw her drink in front of them.

"Well, someone's gotta be the designated driver," she told him, sipping her soda.

He shook his head.

"So, John what were you going to say about the Captain?"

"How peculiar he was acting today when he dismissed us from work early," said Munch.

"I have to agree with John here guys," said Stabler, "Since when does the Captain dismiss us early from work?"

"Never," came all their replies.

The bartender sat down their plate of food and everyone jumped to it.

"Move out of the way that's mine!" cried Amy. If there was one thing they had learned about her was that she loved food and would clean the appetizer plate before anyone could get a bite.

"Oh no you don't!" came everyone's voices except hers.

**

* * *

John Munch's Apt. **

The act was dropped when Amy and Munch got out of her car. At work they were partners, but at his place they were a niece and uncle. They were family and Amy had insisted on keeping it a secret. She couldn't bear what her friends would think if she, of all people, be related to her uncle.

Of course it had not always been this way. There was a ten year gap between them. His brother and sister-in-law had died in a car crash and he did not take custody of her because he was still in Baltimore, in homicide. However, in three years Amy would be a cop for the NYPD and find herself in the Bronx Homicide Unit, a detective like her uncle.

She transferred to SVU in May of this year and to her surprise her uncle was there. The reunion had been bitter sweet, but somehow she had manage to forgive him and they had both forced Cragen to keep his mouth shut since he was the only one who knew the reason between their loving banter at the office and he had saw on her file that she was related to him because of her last name.

So that night Amy sat on the couch, reading her book as usual by the living room lamp. Munch was waiting for the tea warm up. Both had not said a word to each other all evening.

But this was the way some evenings were and that's the way they liked it. He would climb in his chair, read the paper, and when he felt tired he would go to bed. Amy was the same way only she would sometimes fall asleep with the book in her hand, and he had become accustomed to this habit of hers. Munch accidentally made the mistake of waking her up once, and he had got whacked on the head by her book. This reflex of whacking people on the head came from the days when Amy was still in the orphanage and the local kids and teens would try to steal her stuff.

"Sounds like your case made it to the paper today," he said.

Amy marked her place. "Your powers of observation would put Sherlock Holmes to shame," she said.

Munch did not push it further. He was still trying to figure out what she said was either an insult or comment. Amy just smiled and opened her book at the place she left off, and Munch went back to reading his paper. Soon they would go to bed, but for now, they would enjoy the quietness in the tiny apartment.

Early the next morning, while sleeping, Amy's cell phone started ringing. It was 5:00 in the morning. She stirred from her sleep.

"What the hell? Couldn't the others take the call? I wanna enjoy my weekend off," she grumbled as she grabbed her cell phone.

"Hello…oh it's you," Cragen was on the other end of the line. "Okay, when? Eight, got it. So that's what you were up to. Bring what? You're kidding! Alright alright, I'll see you there then."

She wrote down the address and then it finally hit her what Cragen had just said.

"Damn!" she said to herself, "Uncle John is not going to like this."

She got up and got dressed then left her room to wake up her uncle. As usual, his door was closed. She knocked on it a couple of times. She stopped and put her ear to the door. No movement. So she began to kick the door. When she heard a moan, that meant he was alive and was getting ready.

Inside his room, Munch grumbled as he got dressed. He opened the door to his room. He was putting his watch on when he saw that it was Saturday.

"What the hell?" he asked, infuriated at the fact he was awake on his day off, "I don't work weekends! You can handle this call on your own or with one of the others…"

"Quit complaining," Amy said, "Cragen called me fifteen minutes ago. Said we needed to meet him at this place." She tossed a piece of paper at him.

He read it, then said, "Really then, you could have at least knocked on the door instead of kicking it to wake me up then."

"And how many times have I told you that it doesn't seem to work? I could shout, but then the neighbors will complain."

"So why does he want us to meet him at the far side of Queens?" Munch asked looking at the piece of paper again.

"Because he's our boss."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"And we also have to pack at least a week's worth of clothes and what we can't live without."

"What is this, an undercover ops!"

"Keep your voice down! It smells like one. He didn't say over the phone," she said grabbing her duffle bag from the closet.

"I wonder how many strings did he have to pull just to get us over to the far side of Queens," he grumbled as he went back into his room to pack.

His cell phone rang and he answered it. It was Fin.

"Hey, Captain says he wants us to bring only three cars. You want me to bring mine?"

"Sure, that would be great. So he woke you up too?"

"Yeah. So much for a peaceful weekend. I'll see you in thirty," and Fin hung up.

"Who was that?" shouted Amy.

"Fin. He said he would pick us up," replied Munch as he put a couple of shirts in a suitcase.

Amy eyes grew big with fright. In what seemed in thirty seconds, she rushed to his room and looked at him with utmost surprise.

"You mean Fin is going to pick us up here! US!" she shouted in alarm.

Munch slapped his forehead and sighed. He had just realized what he said to his partner. "I'm sorry Amy, I forgot. Well they were going to find out that you were related to me sooner or later? Might as well make it sooner."

But this was the wrong thing to tell her.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FORGOT! YOU DUMB ASS, I HAVE BEEN LIVING WITH YOU FOR TWO MONTHS AND YOU FORGOT THAT I LIVED HERE WITH YOU!"

"Keep your voice down," he muttered sheepishly.

"THE LAST THING I NEED IS EVERYONE TO RIDICULE AND BANTER ABOUT ME BEING RELATED TO YOU! I TOLD YOU, IT WOULD BE ME WHO BREAK IT TO THEM THAT I LIVED WITH YOU, NOT THEM FINDING OUT BY SOME MISHAP OF YOURS OR CRAGEN'S! IT WILL BE LATER THAN SOONER BEFORE THEY FIND OUT THAT I'M RELATED TO YOU! NOW CALL FIN BACK AND TELL HIM I'M TAKING YOU!"

"I wish I could, but the Captain is only allowing us to take three cars," he replied.

"ARRRRGH! JUST GET OUT! GET OUT! OUT!" she roared in fury.

He finished packing the last of his things and got out of the apartment. Amy needed to cool down for a little bit and so he decided to give her plenty of space. He opened the door of his apartment complex building and stepped outside onto the sidewalk.

He could tell it would be another hot day. Already it was 5:30 a.m. and it was already muggy. "Great," he thought, "It's going to be hot, I already pist off Amy, and Fin is going to find out that she is related to me. And the worse part is I'm working on a Saturday in an undercover operation. What more could happen to make this day any worse?"

As if some mystical being was hearing him, a person ran right into him. He lost his balance and fell, his glasses falling off his face.

"Ow! Watch where the hell you're going!" he shouted to the person.

He felt around for his glasses, but couldn't find them. The person gently grabbed him and held them out in the palm of their hand.

"I'm so sorry," said the person, "I wasn't paying attention. Thank goodness your glasses aren't broken."

Munch turned several shades of red. It was a woman's voice and to make matters worse, he was impolite to her. He took his glasses and put them on. To make matters even more worse, she was a very pretty thing.

"I…uh…um…it's okay. They're not broken and no harm came to me," he said embarrassed.

"But you're bleeding on your hand! Look," she said, worried.

He looked at it and it was bleeding a little bit.

"It's okay, nothing I can't patch up."

"Well then, if you insist you are okay…"

"I will be. Don't worry about me."

"Okay, well then have a good day...um…what's your name sir?"

"John. John Munch."

She looked at him for a minute with a puzzled look on her face, then turned and continued walking. Munch thought Amy had cool down enough and so he went back to his apartment.

Amy paid no attention to him as he walked backed in. When she did look up, she saw his hand and gasped.

"What the hell happen to you!" she cried.

"I fell," came Munch's reply.

She gave him a skeptical look. "You fell?"

"Well someone ran into me and made me lose my balance."

She sighed and stopped packing. "Let me see it."

She examined his hand. The palm had bits of gravel in it and blood.

"We're gonna have to clean this up otherwise it'll get infected," she said.

She went to the bathroom and grabbed a couple of things and set them on the dining table. Then she grabbed a small, clean towel and filled a bowl of hot water.

"Now sit still while I'll clean this. It might sting a little."

She submerged thetowel in the bowl and began to pat it on his hand.

"OUCH!" he yelled as she pressed it on him.

"Don't move around now! I told you it was going to sting!"

Munch sat still as she repeated the process until the water was dirty.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Uncle John. I just lost it and wasn't…"

"It's okay. Forget it," he said.

Sometimes they did argue over small stuff, but they would get over it, like a brother and sister fighting over who was better than the other one.

"Now this is gonna sting a little bit," and she poured a liquid onto a cotton ball.

"What does it have on it?" he asked.

"Hydrogen peroxide," she replied.

His eyes narrowed. "I thought you said you weren't mad at me any more!"

"Yes, but this stuff will help clean it up."

"Did you know that hydrogen peroxide kills red blood cells?"

"Not even your conspiracy theories will save you now, Uncle John. Besides, it only kills a little amount, an amount surely your body can replace within a couple hours."

She placed the cotton ball on the wound.

"OUCH! THATHURT, DAMN IT!" he cried out in pain.

"Shouldn't had been standing in the middle of the sidewalk now, should you? Now, tell me about this person who ran into you."

He sighed then tried to recall certain aspects of the woman who ran into him.

"Well, she…"

"A she?"

"Yeah, a she. She was a little shorter than me, looked about five years younger than me, had a bushy set of auburn hair with a crinkle look to it, slight tint to her skin, brown eyes, and a nice figure."

Amy gave him a look and then went back to dressing his wound up.

"What!" he exclaimed, "You asked me how she looked!"

* * *

So what do you think? Please R&R. I would really appreciate it! 


	2. Ch 2: The Joys of Living Together

My second part of my story is and about. I finally got it proofread and hopefully sometime next weekend I can post my third part (I have finals next week > )! Enjoy!

P.S. I do not own the characters except the characters I made up (especially Amy) so you can't have those. The original characters belong to Dick Wolf who is rich and famous and is in bliss right now. sighs

**

* * *

**

**2675 House Number 89**

**Forest Hills, Queens**

**Saturday July 23rd, 2005**

"Nice place," said Benson, stepping out from Stabler's car.

Benson and Stabler were the first to arrive at the place where Cragen told his whole squad to meet him. It was a one-story house with a fenced-in front and back yard. It even had a driveway.

In the drive way were two cars. One obviously was Cragen's, but the other car was not recognizable until the twosome saw the license plate on the back. It belonged to the government.

"Huang," Benson and Stabler said in unison.

Dr. George Huang, the forensics' psychologist that helped them on cases, was here alright. They could tell not only from the license plate, but what kind of car he drove too.

"So that's how Cragen got this place," said Stabler, "He asked Huang for a favor. Talk about going through the right channels."

While still gawking at the house, Munch, Amy, and Fin pulled up in Fin's car. They got out and looked at the house.

"Nice place, so the drive over here was worth it after all," said Fin, looking at the house.

Stabler noticed Munch's hand was wrapped in white bandage.

"What the hell happen to your hand?" he asked.

"Oh, this?" Munch held up for everyone to see. "I cut myself."

"Sure you did," said Fin.

"Well that's all I'm saying," Munch replied, "So what are we standing here for? Are we lawn gnomes or are we going to go inside?"

Inside the furnished house, it was very nice. The hallway from the front door led to living room on the right, the kitchen and dining room to the left, and if you continued down the hallway, it led to the master bedroom at the end and another spare room on the left. There was a bathroom right across from this room and the master bedroom had one too. Also in the master bedroom was the door where it lead to the backyard, and that was where Cragen and Huang were talking.

"So this is all you could get?" Cragen was asking Huang as the others eavesdrop.

"Well, for right now, yeah. At least I had someone who owed me a favor. Believe me, if it hadn't been for that person, you wouldn't have any place nicer than this," he said.

"All I know is that this is going to be fun. Living with my entire squad for a week or more, who would've thought it?"

"HELLO!" shouted Amy as she slid the door open.

"WHOA! Oh it's you. Don't you scare me like that," said Cragen steadying himself on the deck rail. "I don't think you've met Amy before, doc. This is Amy and she is new to our squad."

"How do you do? My name is George Huang. I'm an FBI forensics' psychologist," said Huang, extending his hand.

"I'm Detective Amy and I work for Cragen," Amy said grasping his hand.

"So Cap, why the hell you asked us to meet you out here?" said Stabler.

"Undercover operation," he replied.

"Could've guess that much," muttered Fin

"The equipment is in the garage," Cragen said as he pointed to the small white building in the upper hand right corner of the yard, "Fin, talk to Huang about who should go out in the field."

So they went back inside into the living room and sat on the available sofa, chairs, and floor. Fin looked at everyone sizing them up. He had been on many undercover operations before so Cragen always asked for his advice when it came to these things.

Fin made up his mind and then whispered to Huang ("Professionals talking," muttered Stabler to Benson who snickered), who nodded, then turn Cragen.

"How do you want to do this?" Huang asked.

"Whatever you guys think is the best," came his reply.

More whispering, then they announced their decisions.

"Elliot you'll be the demanding father who trains his daughter everyday," said Huang.

"Okay, that's fine. Who's my daughter?" asked Stabler.

"Amy and she will hate the way you worship the sport and make her train everyday."

"Me!" Amy shouted, "I object!"

"You're not a lawyer in a court of law," said Munch.

"Just because I'm the shortest, youngest, and have the ability to pass off as a teenager, doesn't mean everyone tells me to disguise like one! This is discrimination against short people!"

"I'm short," said Huang.

"That's besides the point!"

"Calm down, Amy. It's not that bad," said Benson.

"Easy for you to say," and she settle back into the sofa.

So Stabler was the father and Amy was his daughter who hated to train with him. Munch and Fin would just be good Samaritans walking in the park (in case if anything happen, they would be there to give her back-up), and since Benson had been seen talking to the victim, she would be paired with Cragen in the surveillance van.

Huang left for the bureau around ten while Stabler clapped his hands announced that their training would begin. Cragen went outside to input a few things in the surveillance van.

"What training?" asked Benson.

"Not you guys, her," said Stabler and pointed to Amy.

"What! But I am in shape!" Amy cried.

"No, we're conditioning you for soccer practice."

"But I know how to play soccer. You just kick a damn ball around."

"Right. Let's go, get your training gear on. We're practicing."

She made an obscene gesture with her finger to him and went to go get dressed. The training Stabler had planned for her would be grueling. The temperature was near ninety again, and that was one of the reasons Amy did not want to go outside.

"Okay, run around the yard eight times without stopping," he said.

"You've got to be kidding me, El! Not in this heat," she complained.

"Either eight or sixteen laps, whichever you want to do is fine by me."

So the training began. It first started with eight laps around the yard, twenty push-ups in a minute, twenty crunches within a minute, and when she was stretching her arm and leg muscles, Stabler told her that what they did was the warm-up.

Then came the real stuff. Stabler would throw the ball to her and she would have to return it to him, kicking the soccer ball in a certain area of the fence, maneuvering with it around obstacles in a certain time limit, practicing foul shots, passing and scoring the ball without being cutoff by another player, it seemed to go on and on, considering the fact that if Amy did not get the exercise right the first time, she would have to repeat the exercise over and over until she did.

At noon, Stabler granted her a break. Amy crawled to the deck and to the table where Benson fixed her lunch; a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of lemonade. She accepted it warmly then went inside to take a nap on the couch once she was finished.

"I think you killed her El, she was knock-out when I checked on her," said Benson.

"My training can't be that bad," he said still working on his sandwich.

"Not from what we were seeing," said Munch and Fin nodded in agreement.

Shouts from the surveillance van made them look at it. Cragen was cursing loudly to no one in particular.

"What happened?" asked Fin.

"I deleted the location where you guys were supposed to be when we are undercover! Arrrgh!"

"I'll go help him," sighed Benson, "Make sure you clean up your mess."

"I almost feel guilty to wake her up," said Stabler.

Amy was fast asleep on the couch, completely oblivious to Stabler and Benson were looking at her.

"Well I'm not going to do it. You're the one that completely deprived her of energy," said Benson.

Stabler gently grabbed Amy's shoulder and began to shake her gently. In a flash Amy woke up, took her pillow and whacked him across the side of his face. Stabler looked at her while Benson gave her a puzzling look. Amy realized who she had hit.

"I'm sorry Elliot! I have this nasty habit that when I'm waken up by someone, I grab the nearest thing and whack who ever it is. I always think it's someone attacking me. Nasty habit of mine."

"I figured that much," he said, still recovering from the hit.

"I'm glad I didn't wake her up then," said Benson.

"So you always do this when something wakes you up?" asked Stabler.

"Yeah."

"May God have mercy on your alarm clock then," he said shaking his head and made his way to the backyard.

For the rest of the afternoon, Amy and Stabler did a repeat of the morning exercises. When the sun had set behind the house and the bugs were starting to become a menace, did they quit and retired into the house.

"You would think that this being owned by the FBI they would at least have satellite or digital cable," said Fin, flipping through the channels on the TV.

"It's because they're cheap," said Munch, reading the newspaper.

Amy entered the living room where they were both at. She collapsed on the couch. Munch put his newspaper down.

"You've looked better," he said.

"I'm hungry," Amy said.

Munch and Fin rolled their eyes.

"For once, can you not think about food?" asked Munch.

"Can't. My stomach does the talking when it's hungry."

"How about pizza, then?" said Fin, "Olivia and the Captain went to go and pick it up fifteen minutes ago."

"I don't care just as long as it's edible and it tastes good," she said.

"Do you want your book?" asked Munch.

"No, but thanks John. I'm too tired, I might miss something important," she said.

"It couldn't had been that bad," said Stabler emerging from the kitchen with a glass of water, "My daughter has been through worse training than what you've been through."

"Yeah but has she trained in this kind of heat?" she asked him.

"Well, no."

"Exactly. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to take a shower and I do not want to be bothered while doing so!"

Amy marched back to the master bedroom while the others talked.

"I have never seen her this worn out. Elliot, you need to chill out," said Fin.

"I'm telling you guys, I didn't push her that hard. What's the big deal?" Stabler asked as Munch and Fin gave him a look.

"The big deal is that it's hot and if you haven't notice, she hasn't been through that much training since her academy days. Take it easy, alright?" asked Munch.

"Fine, I guess I will then."

Munch went back to reading his paper, Fin started to surf through the channels again, and Stabler just sat on the couch, lost in thought.

Time and again, some case would always remind him of the safety of his children. In this case, his daughter, Liz, reminded him of the soccer classes she had took when she was little, and now that she was on the school team, he had wondered about it even more since Benson told him about the case.

Amy came out dressed in a shirt and jeans and sat on the floor playing solitaire with a pack of cards she had brought. She was starting to play the game when Benson and Cragen walked in the pizza.

"PIZZA!" cried Benson and Cragen as they walk through the door.

"YES!" shouted Amy and jumped up before the three men could stop her.

"HEY!" they shouted, "Get back here!"

Shouting from down the hall woke up Cragen. He was sleeping on the couch while the others were deciding which room to sleep in. By the look of things, the situation of who was going to get the master bedroom for the time of the undercover operation was not going too well.

"LADIES FIRST!" shouted Amy.

"NO YOU AND BENSON ARE GOING TO BE SLEEPING TOGETHER. YOU'RE THE SMALLEST GROUP! ALL THREE OF US SHOULD GET THIS ROOM!" shouted Fin.

"COME ON, LET ME THROUGH! MY STUFF IS IN THERE!" cried Benson.

Stabler and Munch were standing in front of the master bedroom doorway.

"No need shout," said Munch, "We'll let you get your stuff just as long as you don't steal the room."

She pushed through them, but they wouldn't budge.

"THERE IS NO WAY YOU'RE GOING IN THERE!" Munch and Stabler roared, as they braced themselves by grabbing the door frame as she tried to push through them.

"MOVE!" cried Benson and Amy as they tried to push through them.

"NO!" the three men replied.

"ALL RIGHT! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Cragen shouted.

They all looked at Cragen.

"Oh…" began Fin.

"S," said Stabler.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING SHOUTING AT EACH OTHER WHEN IT'S ELEVEN O' CLOCK AT NIGHT! EVER HEARD OF DISTURBING THE PEACE!" yelled Cragen.

"Well…um…no?" said Munch.

"Then what in God's name are you guys fighting about?"

They all looked at each other for a moment, and then all of them at once began to explain to their captain.

"They were trying to steal this room," began Benson.

"If Olivia and Amy are sleeping together, then they should get the smallest room," said Stabler.

"Ever heard of being gentlemen when it comes to these matters?" growled Amy.

"Ever heard of sharing and common sense?" retorted Fin.

"The last thing…"

"SHUT UP!" roared Cragen.

They all fell silent again.

"Okay," he said looking at their faces, "There is one way to settle this. Who has a coin on them?"

"A COIN TOSS!" they all yelled.

"Yes, a coin toss," he said to them.

"Captain, if I may," began Munch, "A coin toss would not be fair considering the probability that the outcome of the coin toss would land on heads."

"And your point is?" asked Cragen with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"If the ladies here get heads, then it would be unfair since the heads side of the coin tends to way a little more than the tails side."

"Then you can have your fing heads side!" roared Amy.

"Good then, you might as well start moving your bags into the smaller room," said Fin, raising his voice.

"ENOUGH, ALL OF YOU! NOW WHO HAS A FING COIN?"

"Cap…" began Munch.

"DO YOU WANT TO SLEEP ON THE FLOOR FOR THE WHOLE WEEK!"

There were mumbled replies of "no" from everyone. Munch dug in his pant pocket and found a quarter.

"Give us luck, George," he muttered.

"So the ladies do not object that the men have the heads side?" asked Cragen.

"No," replied Benson and Amy.

Cragen flipped the coin in the air, caught it, the flipped it on the backside of his left hand. He took a sneak peek at it before showing them.

"Tails," he said.

The ladies cheered for joy while the three men grabbed their bags from the room and moved down the hall without a word. The only thing they heard was a slam from their door shutting.

"I don't think that they're taking this too well," said Amy, "Perhaps we should let them have this room."

"And waste all the trouble that it took me to prevent you guys from killing each other over a stupid room? I don't think so. They'll get over it," said Cragen and he went back to the living room to sleep on the sofa.

"You know at least one good thing came out of this," said Benson as she walked into the room.

"What?" asked Amy.

"You know how the guest bathroom is across from there room, right?"

"Yeah."

"I won't have to worry about them (she pointed her finger down the hall) about one of them, especially Munch, opening this door a little every time I come out of the shower and they try to get a good look at my ass."

They both cracked up laughing.


	3. Ch 3: Time to Go and Play with The Perp

To the reviewers Manhattan SVU and krazypirategurl: Thanks for reviewing my story! I'm glad you guys liked it! Thanks for taking the time to R&R!

Some how (by some miracle I guess) we got a free day yesterday during my first hour class so I had time to proofread the third chapter. So here it is and enjoy!**

* * *

Central Park**

**Monday July 25th, 2005**

"People, are you in your places?" asked Cragen on a mike.

"No, we're just getting something to eat from the local vendor," said Munch sarcastically.

Cragen rolled his eyes. Munch had been acting irritable all morning and he knew why. Munch did not like the idea of Amy going out on her own without a weapon and a person more than three yards away. Munch had tried to argue to the captain the night before, but Cragen stood his ground. It was only until Cragen reminded Munch of his place when he stopped.

Cragen and Fin gave Amy a rundown of what she needed do that morning while Benson put a mike under her shirt and a headband with a camera and a mini headset to cover the ears. This would be for listening and watching the environment around her from the van

"Try to temp this guy to come after you," Fin had said, "And if he starts to be trouble then say something that you would normally say to us only, but he won't understand it."

"Now Munch is going to be here and Fin is going to be there," said Cragen, pointing to a map on the computer screen, "You are not to leave Elliot's sight at all times. And like Fin said, if you see any signs of trouble, don't hesitate to call for back up."

Cragen would have talked to her about the argument he had with her uncle, but due to Fin and Benson being there with him and Munch shouting ridiculous statements every few minutes while reading the morning paper on the deck, he put it out of his mind.

So now they were in Central Park. Munch was across the street that Benson and Stabler had driven on sitting a bench reading the newspaper, and Fin was on top of the hill overlooking the field. Stabler was on the edge of the field walking Amy to the coach. The team was on the field was practicing. Apparently the coach had split the team in two, because they were playing a game.

"Ready?" Stabler asked.

"I'm ready," came her reply.

"Let's go then."

They walked onto the field, toward the coach. He noticed them and told one of the girls to take over the team. He walked to them.

"Hello there," said Stabler, "I believe I called this morning about putting my little girl on your soccer team?"

"Ahh, yeah. You must be that new family from Pennsylvania. I'm Martin Malthus," said the coach, putting his hand forward.

Stabler grabbed it and shook it, not taking his eyes from the man for one minute. "Ryan Woodburn," he said.

"So this is your talented daughter, then?" asked Malthus, pointing to Amy.

"Yeah, that's her. My little, talented pride and joy. If you don't mind me saying, she was the best on her team last year."

Amy resisted the impulse to step on Stabler's foot. "Go ahead, El, brag your little heart out. You know I'm not the best at this game! What are you trying to do, blow my cover already?" she thought to herself.

"Well, we'll see if she lives up to her reputation. What position do you normally play?" asked Malthus to Amy.

"Uhh…Midfielder? Sometimes I play Forward too."

"That's fine then," he said and he turned to the field. "Mifflin! You got a new teammate! She'll be playing Forward!"

The girl called Mifflin nodded then turned her attention back to the game. Amy ran to the girl in the field, while Stabler and Malthus. In the surveillance van, Benson got a good look at the girl on the screen.

"Cap, that's Tara. That's the girl I interviewed at that café!"

Amy heard Benson on her mini head set.

"You sure that's her?" asked Cragen

"Positive. Keep an eye on her, Amy."

"Got it."

First mistake of the mission: Amy had answered to one of her comrades while someone was watching. In this case, Tara was watching her.

"Who you talking to?" she asked.

Amy hid her surprise. "Oh I thought you heard me say I would get the ball."

"The eager beaver, huh?" Tara asked.

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?"

"Better not get too eager around him," and she jerked her head toward Malthus.

"Why?"

But Tara did not respond. The ball had just come her way and she stopped with her foot.

"You still want the ball?" she asked.

"Sure," said Amy and Tara passed it to her.

Amy took off with ball weaving in and out of the opposing players. It had been easy around stationary garden objects, but now the objects were moving. Stabler had warned her of this, but she did not expect it to be this hard.

"If you're not sure which way they're going block you, then feint a move in a certain direction, but then cut quickly to the opposite direction," he had said.

"Thanks," she replied sarcastically.

She did that three times, but on the last two tries, she had nearly lost the ball. So she passed it to a nearby teammate which happened to be Tara.

Tara stopped it with her foot, then took off with it. Nobody could not catch up with her; the field was hers. Amy was giving everything she got just to keep up with, considering she had sore muscles from the day before and Saturday. They were almost to the goal.

Tara at the last second passed the ball to Amy. The goalie had been focused on Tara and had not seen Amy approaching from the opposite side. The ball was in the air when Amy positioned herself to send it in the goal.

THUMP!

"Goal!" shouted one of their team members.

"Nice shot," said Tara, "How did you do that?"

"Practice," replied Amy.

Meanwhile, Malthus and Stabler had seen the whole thing.

"Your girl just managed to keep up with one of my best and fastest players on the team. Now how did she do that?" asked Malthus.

"I make her practice," said Stabler.

"Well, I guess practice does make perfect. I think I can squeeze her on here then. Tomorrow bring her here at eight. We usually end at eleven, but sometimes we end at noon. Usually depends on how well the girls practice."

Stabler could only nod and smiled, trying very hard to hide his anger.

"Practice my ass," Stabler muttered in the car.

"Huh?" asked Amy.

"Nothing. Malthus just said something to me that sorta got me steamed."

"Everything gets you steamed El," said Munch.

Everyone groaned. After Amy finished practice, they left at different times, but they had not taken their equipment off. Munch had been torturing them for the past fifteen minutes with random phrases and conspiracy theories because he and Fin were going to be the last to leave.

"Shut up Munch," said Amy.

"Why? You're not the boss of me," Munch replied.

"Shut up John. Just because you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, doesn't mean you have to take it out on us," said Stabler.

"I did not wake up on the wrong side of the fing bed…"

"Doesn't seem that way," Benson replied over the mike and Cragen nodded in agreement.

"Munch, for God's sake man, just shut up. We don't wanna hear about Watergate or UFOs no more," came Fin's voice over the mike.

"It's a free country," said Munch.

"JOHN, JUST SHUT UP!" yelled everyone.

**

* * *

2675 House Number 89 **

**Forest Hills, queens**

Stabler sat on the deck, deep in thought. He was supposed to be watching Amy perfect her feinting moves, but for anyone who knew Stabler, he had a far away look in his eyes. There were two voices inside his head, arguing back and forth.

"You can't always protect them," said one voice.

"Yes you can," said the other.

"What happens if you're not around? Kathy will protect them just as good as you do."

"Sure, she left you. Like she'll protect your kids."

"But they're her kids too. She loves them as much as you do. You can't just take them away from her because you think you can do a better job at being a parent."

"Arrrgh, just stop," said Stabler to himself.

"Stop what?" asked Amy.

"Hmm…oh! No, what you're doing is fine. Just keep continuing what you were doing," he replied.

She shot him a dirty look before resuming.

"Are you actually watching her?" asked someone behind him.

Benson walked out onto the deck.

"Of course I am," said Stabler.

"Funny," said Benson, "I got the impression that you've been making her do the same thing over and over for the past thirty minutes."

"And?"

"Elliot Stabler, I know you. Something is bothering you so spill."

"Okay it's about Liz."

"Is this about your kids?"

"And if I said yes?"

"I would tell you that you can't always be there for them."

"But this is…"

"El, you've got to learn that if anything happen to them they would come directly to you and tell you. Otherwise, they'll have to risk the chance of you finding out some other way that they know you won't appreciate. Don't worry about them so much alright, they'll be fine."

"And I am supposed to feel better after this pep talk?"

"Well yes."

Amy stopped kicking the ball. "Well isn't this a Kodak Moment? What are you two lovebirds chatting about?" she asked sarcastically.

Benson and Stabler turned pink at this remark.

"Mind your own business!" they both shouted.

_It is now Friday and everyone is getting reckless. Malthus has not done anything yet and Cragen knows that Saturday is his last day. Bronx's, Queens' and Brooklyn's SVU departments have been getting swamped with Manhattan calls and the FBI is now pushing them to leave. _

"Who was that?" asked Fin.

"Friends of Huang telling me and you guys to hurry up and finish our operation," said Cragen as he hung up the phone.

"First Brooklyn, then Queens, then Bronx, and now the FBI. Who's next, the mayor?" asked Munch, "They should know that these things take time."

"They're not liking the idea that they have to handle all the major cases from our area. They're already swamped with problems of their own John," said Stabler.

"This is a complete waste of time. I told you she was lying. Now we can pick her up for filing a false report," said Fin.

"I'm telling you this Fin. I saw that kid and she was raped. She showed all the signs of being raped and once more you weren't there. So quit saying that she filed a false report!" yelled an exasperated Benson.

"Guys, I have to agree with Olivia over here. I mean look what she said to me the first day I was there," said Amy.

"Then why is she there when she knows he could harm her again?" said Cragen.

"Denial. She's pretending that it didn't happen. How many times have we seen that?" protested Benson.

Cragen sighed. "Okay, we'll finish out the week, but I don't want to leave empty handed. We're going to have to bait him."

"I thought I was doing that in the first place Captain!" cried Amy.

"Well being the best player isn't cutting it. There has to be someway…"

But Amy wasn't listening to Cragen, she was looking at Munch. He had a look on his face that she had never seen before. It was pure rage and it was directed to Cragen.

"Captain, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then I would disagree," Munch said trying to control his anger.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want her to be by herself for more than a minute. Don't even think about moving Elliot a couple more feet away from her. What happens if something goes wrong? I want someone there to be near her at all times."

"Why?" asked Amy.

"Because, you are the smallest of all of us. Anybody the size of Fin or bigger can and will overpower you," Munch said to her.

"So you think I can't defend myself? Then why do I kick box, hm?"

"Then prove it."

She scowled at him, knowing well that no one would volunteer to get beat up. But to her surprise, Stabler got up from the sofa.

"Okay, we'll prove John wrong," he said.

"Okay," said a very puzzled Amy.

"Give me your best shot."

She gave him another puzzling look.

"Will you just punch me already?" he asked, annoyed.

It was over in five seconds. Amy kicked him in the stomach and he was bending over grabbing his stomach.

"I said punch not kick," he wheezed, "Is that enough proof for you John?"

Munch returned the scowl to Amy, still not pleased at the thought that his niece might be alone just for a couple of minutes to bait Malthus.

* * *

Munch really needs to lighten up a bit doesn't he? Or is there a reason for him acting the way he is? Oh dear, I have said too much already! R&R and post what you think might... 


	4. Ch 4: Timing is of the essence

Thanks for R&R krazypirategurl! I'm glad you like the story!

I posted this because the rest of this 4-day week for me is going to be pure hell and I needed to calm my nerves.I've got finals and I hate finals! So, I must go back to studying. Enjoy!

P.S. I don't own the characters Dick Wolf created. But I do own Amy and all the characters I make up so you can't have them!

**

* * *

**

**Central Park**

**Saturday July 30th, 2005**

"Come on ladies! You can do better than that! Hustle hustle hustle!"

Malthus was making the team run around the field after a very poor practice. Amy ran up to Tara who was in a bad mood.

"What's got into you all of a sudden?" Tara huffed, "You never have acted like that before."

The plan was indeed working. Amy had taken a leaf out of Munch's book and was acting a like a smart ass every time Malthus told them they could do better at something whether kicking a ball to a teammate or into a goal. The result for her being a smart ass was the team had to run four laps around the field.

At last they stopped. Everyone on the team was giving Amy dirty looks when out of nowhere, Tara pushed down onto the ground and began to beat her up.

"SON…OF…A…BITCH!" Tara roared as she literally beat the crap out of Amy.

"Get the f off of me!" Amy yelled and tried to kick her off.

Members of the team ran to pull Tara off of Amy. They held Tara back as Amy got up with a heavy nosebleed and a black eye.

"Goddamn, you can hit," said Amy wiping her nose on her shirt.

"Fing son of a bitch. You think you're better than me at this game? Do you? ANSWER ME!" yelled Tara as the team held her back.

"No, I don't," Amy replied.

Back in the surveillance van, Benson and Cragen had watched the whole thing. However, Tara had punched the headband that Amy was wearing, so the scene ended as a fist was approaching it.

"I think she's having a breakdown," said Cragen.

"Really, I was under the impression that she was really pist off at Amy for making her run," said Munch over the mike.

"This kid needs some serious help otherwise she's going to loose it again," said Benson, "I wish she would come forward to confirm her statement."

"Man, and I thought the fight I had with Munch was bad. But then again, catfights between women are more violent than men's fights," said Fin.

"May I ask why?"

"Well Liv, women are dangerous with these two items; flip-flops or high heels, and handbags."

Stabler laughed. "Sounds like Fin was wild with the ladies in his day."

Benson rolled her eyes.

"Goddamn," said Amy, "I hadn't been beat up like that in a long time. I landed pretty hard because my leg hurts like hell. I'm gonna go to the ladies room to clean up."

No one responded. She shrugged and disappeared in the group of girls and made her way to the girls' locker room.

"If they got the message, then fine. If they didn't respond, that meant they were still discussing about Fin and his way with the ladies," she thought to herself. "Right now, my leg, head, and everything else on my body hurts!"

Stabler lost sight of her as she went to the lockers.

"Hey guys, I don't mean to ask this, but where's Amy? I think I lost her," he asked as he looked around the field.

"What do you mean you lost her? You were supposed to be keeping an eye on her!" exclaimed Munch.

"So are you John. Did she say she where she was going?"

"No she didn't El," said Benson.

Stabler scanned around the field and notice that one extra car was still there, but Malthus was nowhere to be found.

"Where the hell is Malthus?" he said aloud to no one in particular.

"Guys, I think that fight with Tara might have destroyed the equipment on her," said Benson, typing away on the computer, "The computer is not picking up a signal from the mike or camera."

"So whatever she said to us…" began Cragen.

"We couldn't hear it," finished Fin.

The thought of "OH S!" ran through everyone's mind.

"F this," said Amy, sitting on the cement bench.

She had a paper towel to her nose and was taking a wet one around the scratches her face and leg.

"Damn!" she said again as she brushed against the scratch on her leg, "What the hell is this?"

She pulled out what look like a splinter of wood. However, the top end was rounded and the bottom end was pointed. She looked at it for a while before dropping it and continued to clean up her injuries.

Stabler, Munch, and Fin were looking for Amy and trying find Malthus at the same time. The result was the threesome arguing.

"Damn it El! You shouldn't have loose sight of her," said Fin as he searched for her from the hill.

"Not my fault! She's too damn short so anyone could loose sight of her!" he snapped.

"Amy, please come in! Tell us where you are," said Munch pleadingly, walking around, looking for anyone that resembled her.

Benson and Cragen were working fiercely to try and fix Amy's communication link to them.

"Damn it, no!" said Benson, as she tried again to reach her. "Captain, how are you doing?"

"I'm trying but I'm not getting anything," he said looking at the screen.

"We're sure that the camera doesn't work anymore?"

"Positive."

"Damn it, please let the mike work. Please work."

No one saw Malthus as he slipped into the girl's locker room. Fortunately for Amy, she heard the door creak and she stopped what she was doing. She was straining to hear, but could only make out the sounds of shuffling feet and what seemed like panting.

"Get down and hide in the stalls," said her intuition.

She went to get up from her seat, but a sharp pain rose from her leg that was damaged from the fight. She cried out and fell.

"Why can't I move!" she thought to herself.

She looked down at her leg and saw that it was swollen, but looked up when a shadow fell across her.

"Guys, now would be a good time to help me out!" she said to her mike.

No response.

"Guys! Hello! I NEED HELP!"

"This is all your fault," yelled Munch as began to jog looking at the crowds of people.

"I was watching her for one minute and then she disappeared. It's not my fault!" yelled Stabler.

"El, I'm sure we would all have made the same mistake! You didn't know the fight and the chaos that followed it was going to happen, but we need to focus on the objective here!" said Cragen warily, "Fighting is not going to solve any…"

"Cap! Cap! I've got something!" cried Benson

She had been furiously working at the computer for fifteen minutes.

"It's a bit garbled so listen."

She turned up the sound.

"Why…would…to…out…guys…HELP!"

The last word nearly blew out the ears of the Benson and Cragen. They regained their composure quickly and Benson traced the signal.

"The girls' locker room, not to far from the field. She's there Capt!"

"Go guys, go! She's in the girls' locker room," said Cragen.

The three men took off into the direction of the girls' bathroom.

"Get away from me," said Amy as she slid herself back away from Malthus.

"Come now, why would I want to do that?" he asked sinisterly.

Amy pushed herself against the wall. She was now trapped. Her heart raced as he came closer and closer, until he made his move. He made a lunge for her.

"Yaahhhh ahhh!" cried someone from his left side.

"What the…" he began.

Tara tackled him to the ground and began to beat Malthus. She kept punching him over and over like she did to Amy.

"Do…you…honestly…think…that…you'll…get…away…this…time…with…what…you…did…to…me…by…doing…it…to…her! TAKE…THIS…AND…THIS…AND…"

Stabler and Fin kicked the door opened.

"NOBODY MOVE!" shouted Stabler, "THIS IS THE POLICE!"

The three men walked into the room. Tara was still punching Malthus when Stabler pulled her off.

"Come on honey," he said.

"That son of a bitch raped me, like he was going to rape her! He deserved what he got."

"Tara…"

"Let me go!"

Munch ran over to Amy.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"My leg hurts so much. I can't move it. It's swollen…and I…don't…know…"

"Baby girl, you stay with us," said Fin taking her hand.

"Someone call a bus!" cried Munch.

"Already on it," came Benson's voice.

Stabler was still struggling with Tara, when he noticed Malthus began to get up.

"Guys! Malthus is getting up! I got my hands tied at the moment."

Fin was on his feet and grabbed Malthus by the collar of his shirt and slammed into the lockers.

"Sit the f down," he said as he put handcuffs on him.

"That hurt!" cried Malthus.

"Believe me, you're in for another world of hurt when one of us gets you alone in an interrogation," Fin snarled as he led him out of the locker rooms.

"Amy, come on stay with me," said Munch pleadingly, "Don't you die on me yet."

The last thing Amy would remember hearing were sirens, her uncle's voice, and somebody yelling. Then everything faded to black and she lost consciousness completely.

**

* * *

Bellevue hospital **

"John, sit down," said Benson soothingly.

Munch had been pacing back and forth. Amy had lost consciousness just as the ambulance arrived. The paramedics had struggled to keep her alive all the way to Bellevue. Munch, accompanied by Benson, had ridden with her. As soon as they arrived, Amy was rushed into the ER.

"No, I'm fine," he said still pacing.

"John, sit down please."

He looked at her then sat down next to her.

"Why don't these doctors say anything?" he asked her.

"John they would've told us something by now if something went wrong. Relax," she said.

"Well, they should at least update us on her condition every now and then."

He began to drum his fingers on the armrest. Benson could not understand why he was acting this way unless…

"Is he in love with her!" she thought.

The thought itself was disturbing. There had to be at least a 30-40 year age span between them, but then again anything was possible with Munch. Fearing she would not sleep well until she answered her question, she asked him.

"John, I have a question."

"What Olivia?" he said absentmindedly.

"Are you…um…this is not easy for me to say, but are you…"

"Spit it out already!"

"Well are you in love with her?"

"With who?"

"Amy! Who else would I talk about?"

Munch's face contorted into a mixture of disgust, shock, and horror.

"Uh…yes…I mean no. No! Haven't you notice that there's a major age difference between us? Besides, she isn't looking for a boyfriend!"

"Well you've been acting really strangely since she joined," pointed out Benson.

"Damn," Munch thought, "Got to think of something to get her off my back before Amy finds out and I send her into cardiac arrest again…"

He trailed off from the thought.

"Look," he said, "I am by no means having a relationship with her. She just reminds me of someone from Baltimore, that's all. Same personality, same wit, same 'Knock it off with the conspiracy, John'…"

Benson smiled at this.

"Besides the rats would have her badge and mine hanging up above the mantle on their fire place if they thought we were having a relationship. We both like what we do and I doubt we would risk our jobs by having one."

"So you're not having a relationship?" asked Benson.

"Would I lie to you, Olivia?"

"No, you wouldn't."

Munch began to drum his fingers on the armrest absentmindedly again. Benson was looking around when Stabler, Fin, and Cragen walked off the elevator.

"How is she?" asked Cragen.

Benson shook her head. "Nothing yet."

"Damn it!" roared Stabler, "If I only would've…"

"Don't blame yourself," said Cragen and he put a hand on Stabler's shoulder.

The doctor walked out of the ER to where they were standing. As soon as Munch saw him, he stood up quickly.

"How is she?" he asked.

"She'll be just fine. She's resting now, but what she went through, well it kind of put her whole body in shock. She'll need some time off."

"What happen?" asked Benson.

"She had an allergic reaction."

The squad looked at him.

"I take it you didn't know about this," said the doctor.

"What made you think that?" asked Munch.

"So you have no idea what she is allergic to?"

"That'd make two of us," said Cragen, "Can you do some testing?"

"One step ahead of you. Granted it is going to be a really quick test, but it will at least give us an idea what she is allergic to. I already got a sample of blood from her wound area on her leg and sent it to our lab. Results should be back in a couple of hours. In the meantime, she is to take a mandatory leave from work for about five to seven days. The kind of allergic reaction she had nearly sent her into cardiac arrest. Whatever it was could have killed her, so that's why I'm putting a rush on the test results. I would like to keep her overnight just to monitor her."

"That's fine. Can we see her?"

"Here in a minute. The nurses are setting up her room for the night."

"What the hell are you doing!" cried Amy.

"Ma'am, we need to put an ivy in you for the night."

"Screw that! You ain't sticking no needles in me. I'm checking myself out!"

"Ma'am the doctor would like to keep you over for the night."

"The doc can stay the night if he wants to. As for me, I'm leaving."

"Ma'am…"

Munch entered the room and saw the problem immediately. "Nurse, you best get out while you still have your life. She's been known to get out of control at hospitals," he said.

The nurse immediately left and Amy grinned at Munch, but he did not return it.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked.

"I'm not staying in no hospital, John! Where's my clothes?" and she began to get out of bed.

"Oh no you don't," he said and held her from getting up.

"Get off of me!"

"Detective Amy Munch, calm yourself down," he hissed.

She stopped struggling and looked at her uncle. He looked tired than normal and then realized what happen. Her look softened a bit.

"I cut it close, didn't I?" she asked relaxing and Munch let her go.

"Are you allergic to anything?" Munch asked.

"I have no idea."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. Why you're asking?"

"That's what the doctor said. You had a severe allergic reaction and nearly died from it."

"Do they know…"

"They're testing it right now. Results should come back in a couple of hours."

She took his hand and squeezed it.

"Uncle John you know that it would take more than an allergic reaction to bring me down on my knees."

"Would lying on the floor count?"

She laughed again. "I'm serious. The only thing that would bring me on my knees is if anyone I knew or loved were hurt and I couldn't do anything to help them."

"Funny, that's the way I feel with the exception of the cold. I hate cold weather."

Amy shook her head and began recollecting her thoughts before she past out, remembering him there, Fin saying something to Malthus, a yell…

"What about the yell I heard?"

"Before you past out?"

"Yeah."

"That was El crying in pain. Tara kicked him…well, you know where."

"Ah. Poor Elliot," she said laughing, "Did Tara…"

"She didn't run away. She just asked me who I was and who you were and we told her that we were detectives including the one she kicked."

"By the way, that hurt like hell."

Stabler, Benson, Fin, and Cragen entered her room.

"Merry Christmas," he said delivering her Harry Potter book to her, "Thought you might some light reading for tonight since you're staying the night here."

"Which brings me to my next question," said Cragen, "Why did a certain nurse come out of your room and tell me in particular that you were checking yourself out?"

"Because I'm not staying here," said Amy.

"Why?"

"Because you guys and the brass can't force me to."

Cragen sighed. "Why do you want to leave so badly?"

"Because I want to," she replied.

"Or maybe you're afraid of something," said Fin, indicating to the ivy that the nurse had tried to put in her earlier, "You afraid of needles?"

"No, malpractice."

Everyone rolled their eyes.

"If I convince the doctor to let you check yourself out," began Cragen, "Will you swear to me that I, as your Captain, order you to take a week off?"

"Of course! I'll do anything just to get out of here!"

"Okay then," and Cragen left to find the doctor.

"Amy, someone would like to see you before you go," said Benson, pointing to the doorway.

Tara was standing there, still in her uniform from practice.

"I think it's best that we all leave," said Benson to the others and they all rose up to leave. Benson shut the door.

Tara took the place of Munch's seat and sat down.

"I don't know where to begin," Tara said.

"If you're apologizing about beating the crap out of me, then it's okay. I've had worse."

"No, I kinda feel responsible for putting you through this mess and I'm sorry. I told Detective Benson that I wanted to confirm my statement and I'm going to do that tomorrow. I guess it's my way of saying sorry to your friends and what I put them through."

"Tara, you did a really brave thing today. From what I could see, you regained that the control that was taken away from you. Not too many victims go and attack their attackers to save someone else's life."

"And I did a real number on him too. Malthus got a broken nose."

They laughed.

"So are you leaving?" Tara asked.

"Yeah. Never liked hospitals. I was always afraid of malpractice. By the way, why did you come back?"

"Hmm?"

"To the lockers. Were you going to beat the crap out of me again?"

"No. By the time I realized what I'd done, beating you up for no reason, I realized that I needed to talk to someone, but I had no idea. Then I noticed that the tall man with the sunglasses who is outside right now was speaking very quickly to no one in particular and Malthus wasn't around. It just sorta clicked and I feared the worst so I went to the girls' locker to see if you were there."

"So you had an idea that I was a cop?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Munch knocked on her door. "Here are your clothes," he said, "Whenever you're ready toleave, we're ready."

Amy waited until he delivered her clothes to her and he left the room.

"So good ol' Munch was talking to himself again? Usually he acts like that most of the time, talking to himself and whatnot, but usually he is talking about pointless things."

Tara giggled and Amy smiled.

"Well I'd better get dressed otherwise I won't here the end of it from my squad. I hope I'll see you soon."

"Yeah, that would be nice. Well get well soon."

"You take care Tara."

And with that, Tara Mifflin left the hospital to go home and explain to her parents where she had been for the whole afternoon.

**

* * *

2675 House Number 89 **

**Forest Hills, queens**

As soon as they returned from the hospital, the doctor called and said he had the results back. It turned out that Amy was allergic to bees.

"So that's what that little twig-like thing was. I must had fell on bee when Tara pushed me down," she said.

"Of all the things in the world, it had to be bees," Munch said as the Cragen told them.

Amy was lying on the couch, propped up with a pillow and covered in a blanket. She was playing Chess with Fin who was losing very badly. He had just realized his queen was in danger.

"Damn! Not fair! Can I redo my turn again?" he asked pleadingly.

"Nope," and she swiped his queen from the board with her rook, "Ha ha, check!"

Munch was watching the two playing the game.

"Fin, move your king to the upper right hand square," he said.

"Why?"

"Do you want to end up in checkmate?"

"No."

"Then do it."

So Fin moved his king to the upper right hand square, but Amy moved her queen and now Fin was in checkmate.

"Hey! You old bastard, look what you did!" Fin exclaimed.

"Oh, I forgot she had her queen. Sorry man," said Munch.

"John…," Fin began warningly.

"You lost again Fin," said Benson.

"My turn," said Stabler.

"No it's my turn," said Cragen.

"What is this? Are you guys taking advantage of innocent girl that happens to be suffering from the effects of anesthesia?" asked Amy in mock anger.

"Um…" began Benson.

"Yes," said Munch with a sly smile.

"JOHN!" shouted everyone.

Amy woke up and looked at them alarm clock on the dresser. It was 12:36 at night.

"A fine time for my stomach to be growling," she grumbled as she got out of bed.

She opened the door and quietly crept the down the hall. She was extra careful around the room where the three men were sleeping. They were snoring loudly.

"Geez, why have an alarm clock when you can have them wake you up in the morning?" she thought.

Once she passed their room, the rest of the trip to raid the kitchen was a breeze. She slid into the kitchen without waking Cragen on the couch. She went to the fridge and opened it to see what was inside.

"Hmmm…let's see…ooo honey ham, salami, roast beef, bologna…yuck! Never cared for bologna. Uhh tomatoes, lettuce, blended shredded Mexican cheese! Yum yum. Ahh mustard. Regular mustard! Who in the hell finished the Dijon!"

"I did," said a voice.

Amy nearly dropped the items. It was Cragen. She hastily struggled to put the items back, but he stopped her.

"What the hell are you doing raiding the fridge at this ungodly hour?"

"My stomach conveniently woke me up and said feed me," she said feebly.

He shook his head and sighed. "You're supposed to be resting."

"And I will once I make my stomach happy."

Cragen threw up his hands in the air. "I just can't understand you," he sighed.

"If I fix you a sandwich, will you not tell anyone that I raided the fridge tonight?"

"I guess. There's more Dijon mustard in the cabinet," and he pointed to the left side of the cabinets.

Amy fixed him a roast beef and honey ham sandwich while she fixed hers made of honey ham and salami. They ate their sandwiches quietly for a while. Finally, Amy spoke.

"Hey Cap who was the primary on the Sarah Logan case?"

Cragen nearly choked on his sandwich. "First her getting up at this ungodly hour to herself a sandwich, now she asks me about a case," he thought.

"Why do you want to know about that?" he asked, "Did John mention anything about it?"

"So my uncle was the primary," she replied.

"Yes he was. Terribly heart broken when she died though he didn't show it at first."

"What do you mean he didn't show it at first?"

"When we apprehended the guy that placed a bomb her in place and who also blew up our suspect, Elliot told me later on that he nearly blew the brains out of the guy. He had never seen him so angry. That same day after interrogating the guy, he left without saying a word."

"So I guess these two were close?"

"Who John and Elliot?"

"No! John and Sarah."

"Oh them. Yeah they were. Come to think of it, that's the only time I've seen him so invested in a case. I mean he has been invested in some cases before, but that was the one he left early from work and he kind of kept to himself for the past couple days following the interrogation. He didn't even mention a conspiracy."

Amy nodded and finished her sandwich. She bade Cragen good night and went back to her room. Yes, it did seem odd that her uncle would keep to himself after just one case. But as she tiptoed past the men's room, she figured that's the way he would act. Her uncle always liked to keep things to himself. Perhaps she could stay at her uncle's place for just a little bit longer, just until she figured out why her uncle acted the way he did. She knew beneath that cynical old coot act he always portrayed at work was someone who longed for something. Until she figured it out what it was, she would not leave his place. She entered quietly in her room and crawled into bed. Ideas began to fill her mind as she stared at the ceiling that night for a long time before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Well there! I finally got it up before I have my psychotic breakdown (I hate finals week! > ). Please R&R. I would like to know what you think. 


	5. Ch 5: An Unexpected Surprise

This is the last chapter y'all. I really appreciate all the people who have taken their time to read my story. As usual I own all the characters I make up, but not the ones Dick Wolf created cause he's the genius behind the show! Now, on with the show!_

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It is now the first Friday of August and everything seems to be back to normal at the Manhattan SVU with the exception that they are one man short. Amy is taking her week off while the squad handles the cases from the prior week that the other squads have been handling. Some of these cases will be dunkers and whodunits by the time they have finished them. Cragen has been holding them past 7:00 just to get the workload down to a manageable weight._

Benson and Stabler walked in and sat down at their desks. They looked tired and worn out. Both had been running all day between the courthouse, squad room, getting something to eat, and back to the courthouse.

"Casey is going to kill us," said Benson, "We've been giving her cases all week."

"A little advice to everyone of you; don't go and tell her you have a case while she's at the batting cages," said Fin.

"What happened?" asked Benson.

"She got so pist off that when she swung at the next ball it ricocheted off the batting cage wall at least four times."

"You mean five. I counted," said Munch, loosing his tie, "Turn on the radio."

"John, come on man. You know that the weather guy is going to say the same thing," said Stabler.

Munch grumbled to himself as he got up and turned on the radio.

"Good evening, New York! If you're still stuck in traffic or just getting home then I have some good news for you. We all know how this heat wave has been making life miserable for the past month or two. So how would you guys like a cold front to move through and cool things down?"

Everyone in the squad room stopped working. Even Cragen got up from his seat and went to the door to hear the radio.

"That's right New York City. The city will be experiencing a cool down tonight and receiving some light rain showers. Are you ready for the low for tonight? Sixty-five degrees, New York, Sixty-five degrees. So if you don't have any plans tonight then make some! This weather will only last for a couple of days before it gets as miserable as it was today. Now back to…"

"Hallelujah!" cried Munch and he sat down finishing the last of his paperwork.

The squad resume backed to work. Nothing but the scribbling of pencils and pens could be heard, with the occasional sound from the pencil sharpener as it grinded away on a pencil. Then a slapping sound would be heard, signaling a file was done and that there was plenty more to go.

"That is the last DD5 I'll write in a long time," said Stabler finishing his stack and leaning back in his chair.

Already it seven o' clock and the cool air could now be felt. Munch finished his stack of files, then Fin, and finally Benson. All of them sat in their seats silent until Munch got up and went to his locker.

"Where are you going?" asked Fin.

"Home," said Munch and he put on his hat.

"What about a drink before we all leave?" said Benson as she too got up from her chair and prepared to leave.

"Well, I guess I'll meet you there then," he said and began to leave.

**

* * *

John Munch's Apartment **

Munch walked into his apartment. It smelled remotely of fresh laundry.

"I thought Cragen told you to take it easy," he said looking at Amy who was on the floor folding clothes.

"Uncle John, it's been almost week. I'm perfectly fine. What's this call that I got from Liv saying that the squad is going for drinks?"

"We're celebrating. We're done with case files and the temperature for tonight is going to be sixty-five."

She smiled. "By the way, I cleaned up your shoes and got rid of that stain on your shirt from your recent garbage expedition with Fin. Tell him to be careful next time when he starts throwing bags all over the place. I had to literally hand scrubbed that area with my knuckles."

"Oh yes I can imagine how that will turn out. He'll tell me to go to hell and that there are more important things in life than worrying about a fing stain on a fing shirt."

Amy cracked up laughing. "Yes, Fin would something along those lines. Can I please come with you? I've been bored all week. I've finished my book, I did my laundry…"

"As long as I drive."

"Fine, but if you wreck my car, you'll be buying the new one I want."

"You would like me to wreck your car then just to get that car?"

"Yeah, it would be nice, but knowing you, you won't do it," she said with a small smile.

"Hey Amy, if you don't mind me asking, why won't you drink in front of me or anyone else for that matter?" asked Munch as he grabbed her keys.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Just curious."

"Can't stomach it. I'll get the worse stomachache known to man kind."

And she went out the door, leaving him with the most puzzled look on his face before he laughed to himself and shut the door.

**

* * *

Chauncey's Bar **

"Hey guys! Look who it is," said Benson pointing to the door.

Amy walked in the bar along with Munch.

"Hey," said Benson, "How are you?"

"Feeling loads better," said Amy

"That's good then," said Stabler, "There's plenty of work waiting for you back in the office."

"Thanks. I look forward coming back to work," she replied sarcastically.

"Well, it's good to know that you're alive and well. I gotta being going," Stabler said and he left some money to pay for his drink.

"What's the hurry?" asked Fin.

"Today's the day I get the kids."

Stabler then took his keys from his pocket and left.

"He's been looking forward to that all week," said Benson, "And I'm not going to be at the mercy of you guys. I'm leaving before I have one too many."

So Benson left right after Stabler leaving Munch, Fin, and Amy alone at the bar.

"So you feeling okay?" asked Fin.

"Yes Fin. Otherwise, John would have told me to go home," said Amy

"Yeah and you're lucky I let you stay," said Munch.

"Come on John. Lighten up a bit. Obviously she's fine. When she left the hospital that night, she was walking like a drunk."

"Fin!"

"Well it's the truth Amy."

"Hmph. And here I thought you were nice to me."

They all laughed for a long time until someone shouted Munch's name.

"Excuse me, John?"

Amy eyes narrowed in confusion. She looked from her uncle to the lady that was approaching them and then she realized who the lady was. One look from her uncle was all she needed to understand.

"Hey Fin, wanna play some pool?" she said and grabbed him by his arm.

"Hey! What the…"

Amy and Fin went off to the pool tables while Munch turn the face the woman as she made her way to him.

"Uh…hi," he said.

"Hello there John. It's been a long time since our little run in," she said.

"Yeah, I guess," he said and began to scratch the back of his head.

"I see your hand patched up nicely. Who were those two people that ran off?" and the lady looked past Munch.

"My partners. They like to play pool."

"Ah."

"Would you like anything to drink?"

"No, but thanks. I was just leaving when I saw your face. I guess I'll be seeing you around."

She turned to leave, but Munch stopped her.

"Uh Miss, wait! Umm…uh…what's your name?"

"Emily Smith," said the woman.

"My partners are gonna be awhile. So if you want to stay and talk…"

"Are you asking me on a little date, sir?"

He tried to talk, but the words wouldn't come out. She laughed.

"Is this your way of saying that this isn't really a date?" she asked.

"Uhh…yes…I mean no. No, it's just that…"

"You don't like watching your partners playing pool?" she said with an amused smile.

Munch was at a loss for words. "Nice job John," he thought.

"Of course I would accompany you until they finished their game," she said smiling.

Munch grinned feebly unaware that Amy and Fin were watching them.

"So let me guess, that's how he cut his hand. Someone ran into him and he fell onto the pavement and bashed his hand. Why wouldn't he tell us it was woman who ran into him in the first place?" asked Fin.

"Would you tell Munch and me that a woman ran into you and made you loose your balance and fell down on the sidewalk?" asked Amy.

Fin shrugged. They both looked at each other for a while then headed to an empty pool table to play a game.

While Fin and Amy went to play pool, Munch conversed with Emily Smith who found out many things about her. She was a reporter for the New Yorker and she loved to read in her spare time. She was fifty-seven and had only been divorced once. The more Munch began to know about the woman who ran him over on the sidewalk, the more he began to like her. It even came as a surprised to him when he asked for her number and a bigger one when she gave him her card and Munch gave her his.

**Executive writer: Baby Fwuffles

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**

Uh oh! What does this mean! Munch is going to date a reporter? I'm writing the rough draft of the next sequel so until next time adeiu my loyal fans! 


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